Caroline, Ruler of Netherfield
by fanofNC
Summary: It is a universal truth- or at least, a school-wide truth- that Caroline Bingley rules Netherfield. Previously "Betting on Will". REWRITTEN. Please read and review!


**Caroline, Ruler of Netherfield**

It is a universal truth- or at least, a school-wide truth- that Caroline Bingley rules Netherfield.

Everything she declared to be fashionable was sought after. Everyone she deemed suitable as her companion was grateful for her great condescension.

Caroline Bingley also had many eyes and ears. One dare not say a word against her, lest they face social isolation.

The ringleader of the hunter-gatherers (of information, that is) was, of course, her twin brother, Charlie.

And on this fateful day, the information came from Charlie Bingley, himself.

Caroline was, per usual, bored in class. Not that paying attention was necessary when one was Caroline. She simply asked for notes from someone else.

A vibration from her phone diverted her from her boredom. A text from Charlie.

_The Longbourn exchange students are here_.

Sighing, Caroline picked up her phone and texted back. _That does not concern me at all._

_Oh, but Caroline, one is sitting next to me in class. Tall, dark, and handsome. Don't you want to know all about him?_ Charlie texted back.

_Sure_. Nonchalance was much easily feigned when texting. Of course she was interested. She had to be the first to give the stamp of approval.

_No girlfriend, far as I can tell. Touchy about his love life._

Ooh, Caroline could definitely work with that. Most likely the guy just ended a relationship. That made a pretty girl with no knowledge of his past appealing.

Namely, herself.

Charlie kept texting. _Alright, he plays baseball. And everything else. Not sure he's human anymore_.

What a catch! The students on the exchange trek had to have straight A's, so he's smart, athletic, and hot? A bit too good to be true.

_Are you sure you're not overdoing it?_

_Nope. He just told me to leave him alone because he wants to listen to the teacher. Who the heck wants to listen to the teacher?_

Caroline tapped her chin with her pen. _Send a picture of him._

A minute later, Charlie sent a slightly blurred photo from an odd angle- probably to avoid detection. Caroline inspected the photo. Yes, very nice side profile. Reminded her of a marble statue of a Greek god. She could also make out the muscles on his arm.

Quite a catch.

"I'm looking forward to lunchtime," Caroline remarked offhandedly to her partner as the teacher let them work on their own.

"Oh? Why is that?" Irene asked. She was surprised and pleased that Caroline Bingley was talking to her, the thought that Caroline was using her never crossing her mind.

"My brother tells me there's an exchange student from Longbourn in his class. He's bringing him to our lunch table so I can meet him."

"Is he hot?" Irene asked next.

"Charles says he is," Caroline waved her off. "I have yet to see for myself."

"You're so lucky you get to meet him! You will tell us about him after you meet him, won't you?"

"Sure."

Caroline smiled to herself as Irene turned around to tell another girl the news. Soon, everyone would know the exchange students are here- and that Caroline Bingley would be meeting the hot one first.

* * *

Caroline was annoyed. A girl from Longbourn was in her class the period before lunch, and she was pretty cute. So was Caroline, of course, but she sincerely hoped they wouldn't all be above the Netherfield average. It was unthinkable. Cress Darnel must be an exception. Just because she was the first transfer Caroline met didn't mean Cress was what the average Longbourn student look like.

At least she could see Charlie now, and he was dragging another male with him. He must be over six feet. He would do well with her, then. Caroline was five-seven, after all.

She pretended to inspect her lunch as the guys came nearer. Louisa looked up in curiosity as the two sat down.

"Everyone," Charlie announced. "This is William Darcy. William, these are my sisters, Caroline and Louisa." He pointed at them as he said their names. "And this guy here is Louisa's boyfriend. Jim Hurst." Charlie grinned. "Hey, he's on the football team. You can probably join them for practice if you want."

Caroline had finished looking William up and down, and was very satisfied. From the look on Louisa's face, so was her sister. She was sure he was a good kisser. Probably great in bed, too.

"So, Will," Caroline began in a cat-like purr, "do you play football?"

"Don't call me Will." Why wasn't he looking up at her? His lunch couldn't be that interesting, even though it was homemade. "I do play football, but only for fun."

"William, here," Charlie injected, "plays a little bit of every sport. Isn't that sick?"

"Well, I'm the cheer captain," Caroline continued, ignoring Charlie. "I'm sure that it would be easier for you to join the football practices if you see more familiar faces."

William frowned at his lunch. "I don't see how those two sentences correlate with each other."

"Why, the cheer team practices at the same time as the football team!" Caroline exclaimed.

"And?"

Caroline huffed. Maybe William Darcy wasn't as bright as she thought. "You'll see me and Jim."

"Right." William looked around the cafeteria, then waved to someone. "Richard!"

They all turned to see who William was waving at. He was taller than Charlie, but not as tall as William. He walked with a confident gait, as opposed to Charlie's bounce.

"Will!" The newcomer sat down next to William and eyed his lunch. "What's that you got there?"

"Ahem." Caroline narrowed her eyes at Richard. "He prefers to be called William."

Richard turned to William with surprise. "He does?"

"Didn't you know?" Caroline smirked at Richard. So he wasn't as close to William as he would have them believe. "He told us. Explicitly. I'm not surprised though. You might not have had many chances to talk."

"Did he say why?" Richard remarked airily, ignoring the glare from William.

"'Sentimental value'," Charlie replied.

Richard was now grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Sentimental value, eh? I'll be sure to tell L-"

"Shut up," William growled. Then he smirked at Richard. "Or I'll give Mary a _glowing_ report of your first day at Netherfield."

"You wouldn't!" Richard protested.

"I would. And you know she would believe me."

"That's not fair! You've known her since she was brought home from the hospital!"

"And you've known her since what, Georgiana was born? And you've been dating for two years."

"Still!" Richard insisted.

Caroline had enough of a conversation at _her_ lunch table without _her_ input. "Who is Mary?"

"My girlfriend," Richard said proudly while glaring at William.

"Oh." Too bad. Caroline had planned to introduce him to Melissa. "And Will knew her... since when?"

"Since she was born." William glanced at Richard. "Her family and mine are close. Richard met her only because he's my cousin."

Richard sighed. "Which is unfair. Mary looks up to Will like a little sister."

"Well!" Caroline stopped the conversation between the... cousins, since it was getting out of her hands. "There's Melissa! You guys should totally meet her."

* * *

"Where's William?" Caroline frowned at Richard.

Richard shrugged. "Stayed up late and woke up not feeling too well. He's taking the day off."

Caroline sighed loudly. "Well, I was hoping that we could start making arrangements for the group project today."

Richard raised his eyebrows. "What group project?"

"You know, for English Lit."

"You're working with him?"

"Me, William, Charlie, Melissa. Do you want to join us?" Well, the project was announced today, and William's not here, but if she says he's working with them, he's working with them.

Richard's eyebrows disappeared completely. "Sure."

"Great! We can confirm the details tomorrow when William is back."

* * *

True to her word, Caroline Bingley opened the discussion the next day at lunch with the English Lit project.

"So, where should we do the work?"

"I wasn't aware," William growled, "that we were working together."

Caroline waved dismissively. "Oh, I already told the teacher. It's totally fine. But back to my question, where should we go to work on the project, and when?"

Richard grinned impishly at William. "We could go to Pemberley!"

"What's Pemberley?" Caroline narrowed her eyes at Richard, who loved practical jokes. He'd played a countless amount of them in the two weeks that she'd known him.

"W- where Mary lives," Richard stuttered a bit.

Caroline wondered why. "Well, why would we go to your-" her eyes narrowed- "girlfriend's house?" She was still annoyed, after all, that he was not single. If only he dated Melissa- she was sure that one couple led to another soon.

"They... live in a big house." He glanced at William- nervously? "You know, big family, big house. Family of seven." He cleared his throat. "So, William, do you think we can go?"

"That's not up to me. You know who it is up to? The Bennets." William glared at Richard. "And guess what? I'm calling Mary right now. She won't let you."

Richard visibly gulped, then peeked over at William's phone. "Hey!" he cried, pointing to the screen. "Is that-" he peered closely- "_Lizzy?_"

"Who?" Caroline leaned over to get a look. Will pulled his phone back and tapped on the contacts app before Caroline could glimpse more than a sunset backdrop against a figure.

"Who was that?" Richard insisted when William kept tapping away. "It was her, wasn't i-"

Whoever William was calling picked up at that moment, saving him from answering.

"Hello, Mary," William greeted as he pressed the loudspeaker. "No need to call for your sisters. This is just something I want to ask you."

"Um, okay," a female voice responded.

"Is it alright if we bring home a group of people for a group project?"

"'We?' You mean, you and Richard?"

"Yes."

"Oh." A pause. "Can I assume it was Richard's idea?"

"You can."

"Is he there with you?"

"He is." William smirked at Richard.

"Okay. Um, how many people are you bringing?"

"Three, Mary," Richard replied with the gentlest voice she'd ever heard him use.

"A guy and two girls," William supplied helpfully while laughing at the expression on Richard's voice. Caroline was shocked as she'd never heard him laugh openly before.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea, Richard."

"Please, Mary?"

"No. You know that there are already eight females in this household, and for you to bring more would be... catastrophic."

"But-"

"You should know better, Richard."

"Alright," Richard sighed, defeated.

William hung up after telling her to greet her sisters for them, and smirked at Richard again.

Eight females?

They must be rich, then, and keep servants. Hmm.

* * *

"Janey's picking us up today, Richard," William remarked as he chomped on his sandwich.

"Oh, yay! We don't have to bike home! Did she say why she's being extra nice today?"

Caroline frowned. "Who's Janey?"

"Mary's sister," William replied without so much as a glance in her direction. "There's a faculty party at Dad's uni, so we have to get home early. She'll drop you off on the way."

"Great!"

Somehow, news got around school after lunch that some girl was coming over to pick up William and Richard.

Screw that, Caroline knew how. She spread the news. She was hoping to create a crowd after school so that they could all see what Richard's girlfriend's sister, who sounded suspiciously close with William, was like.

So when William and Richard tried to walk toward a car in the school driveway, they were swamped. Caroline, of course, was in the front row, trying to catch a glimpse of the driver.

She could see three girls in the car. Whatever happened to Mary's _sister_ coming to pick them up? She was sure that _sister_ referred to one person. The girl in the driver's seat was a brunette, and another brunette and a blonde were sitting in the back seat. Which was Janey, and who were the others?

William rode shotgun, while Richard joined the two others in the back, she noticed.

How... _interesting_.

They drove off before she could get a better look.

* * *

Caroline Bingley was furious.

William and the rest of Longbourn left as the month was over, and for once in her life, she didn't succeed once she put her mind to it. William Darcy was unlike any other of her little conquest on her list. He refused to acknowledge that what he needed in his life was right in front of him.

Ah, well, his loss.

Not that this was over, of course. There's a second group from Longbourn coming for a month as well soon. She'll find out more about William and she'll have him. No alternative will be acceptable.

Now that ought to be a universal truth.

**AN: Hello, and thank you for reading! I hope you've enjoyed this story, so please tell me what you think! (Even if you didn't like it, I'd still appreciate it if you tell me what you don't like about it.) Constructive criticism is welcomed! I hope you, wonderful reader, can help me improve :).**

**If you would like to read out more about the world of this AU, go check out _Pemberley Mansion_, which shows a lot more of the Darcy and Bennet families. (Someone commented that _Pemberley Mansion_ lacked angst, and I fully agree. It's not really a story. It's more of a series of vignettes to show how the unique arrangement at Pemberley came about.) Also, I will be working on one more piece to fit into this AU: _Lizzy's Turn at Netherfield_. Take a crack at what it's about, or suggest some scenes you'd like to see in this particular universe!**

**Once more, thank you for reading, and please leave a review!**


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